36 RACING. 



many sires from England, the most notable of them being the 

 horse to whom I have already alluded — Young Blacklock. When 

 making a tour of the breeding establishments in England, he was 

 more impressed with the appearance of Blacklock than of any 

 other horse he had seen, and the recollection of the grand appear- 

 ance of the * Bishop Burton celebrity,' barring his fiddle head, 

 subsequently induced him to buy Young Blacklock, who was first 

 called Navarino. Mr. Watts' object in buying this horse was the 

 suitability of his blood to mate with The Kitten and Spermaceti, 

 two W^axy mares he had purchased from Lord Sligo, both of whom 

 were very light of bone, a fault he hoped to correct in their 

 progeny by putting them to Y. Blacklock, who was a dark bay 

 horse of great power and extraordinary bone. And the result 

 showed the excellence of Mr. Watts' judgment, as The Kitten 

 produced Whitefoot, Elackfoot, and Magpie, three first-class horses, 

 while Spermaceti bred Apollo, a horse of very good form. The 

 success of these horses showed how appropriate was the cross of 

 * Blacklock on Waxy,' and was a great triumph for Mr. Watts, 

 who, however, a year or two subsequently won greater honours by 

 breeding The Baron, who came from the crossing of 'Waxy on 

 Blacklock.' How his breeding The Baron came about is a strange 

 eventful story. Captain Gamble, a Westmeath gentleman, while 

 serving with his regiment in Yorkshire, picked up Miss Pratt by 

 Blacklock out of Gadabout by Orville, with whom he won some 

 regimental races. This mare was low in stature, being under 1 5 

 hands in height, but very thick, with good bone and great length, 

 in fact a picture to look at, being all quality, which she doubtless 

 derived from Orville, the sire of her dam. Captain Gamble on 

 retiring from the army brought her to his seat at Westmeath and 

 bred from her some indifferent horses, and her name would never 

 have been enrolled among the grandes dauies of the ' Stud Book' 

 had her owner not been rather suddenly called over to the majority 

 in 1837. This happened about the Curragh April Meeting, from 

 which the pleasant countenance of Mr. Watts was missed, and 

 many were the surmises respecting the cause of so strange an 

 incident. But Mr. Watts was engaged quite as much to his liking, 

 for he had gone to attend the auction of Captain Gamble's effects 

 with the object of buying Miss Pratt, which he succeeded in doing 

 for 120 gs. On her arrival at the Curragh she was put to Economist, 

 the sh-e of Harkaway, a very large mottled bay horse, possessing 

 far more power than quality, with the result of breeding Echidna, 



